I write and speak about subcultures, sexuality, and new media.

A while back, I attended a Chicago Bloggers Meetup. I wasn’t sure what it would be like — how would a group of bloggers on a huge cross-section of topics take the introduction of a BDSM activist into their midst?

As it happened, the group was great and very encouraging; the host, Arvan Reese, gave me the excellent idea of starting a BDSM community blog — that is, a themed blog with many contributors and lots of open community discussion space. I thought about it a bit, but unfortunately I concluded that I didn’t really have time to implement it ….

… except that maybe that wasn’t unfortunate after all, because Arvan got in touch soon after and said: “Actually, I think I want to start a general sexuality community blog myself!”

He and I have met a couple times since then, and I’m really excited about his ideas. He’s got a fair amount of experience with political community sites (examples of which include the iconic DailyKos), and he’s created a great skeleton for this one. It will not only have awesome regular featured writers — there’ll be all kinds of ways for everyone to contribute.

The new sexuality community blog is going to be at SexGenderBody.com. And imagine how flattered I was when, last time we met, Arvan told me that not only had I inspired him to start this blog in the first place … but that he was hoping to use my bite-size sex-positive quotation, There is no “should”, for the Sex / Gender / Body tagline! I call that proof that this site will have its sex-positive priorities in exactly the right places.

A bunch of amazing people have submitted their work for consideration, but we’d love to see more. You know you want to be a featured writer. The deadline’s coming up, but there’s still enough time for you to go for it! Here’s Arvan’s call for writers:

ATTN: Call for Sex/Gender/Body Bloggers and Writers

Do you write about any of these issues and communities?

LGBTQ
TS/TG/TV
FETISH
SEX WORK
POLYAMORY
SWING
BDSM
TRANSHUMAN

Do you work with these communities as an advocate or ally, and do you want to write about your work? Would you like to make an impact across your own affected community and reach out to other SGB communities? Would you like to help bridge the gap among all SGB identities to increase understanding, acceptance, rights and respect?

A new collaborative community blog is being launched that will bring these communities, individuals and issues together in frank, open discussion. Contributions will come from anyone that wants to post at the site, cross-posters from other blogs active in a community, and featured writers.

We are looking for Feature Authors for this site from among the following:

About Clarisse

On the other hand, I also wrote a different book about the subculture of men who trade tips on how to seduce and manipulate women:

I give great lectures on my favorite topics. I've spoken at a huge variety of places — academic institutions like the University of Chicago; new media conventions like South By Southwest; museums like the Museum of Sex; and lots of others.

I established myself by creating this blog. I don't update the blog much anymore, but you can still read my archives. My best writing is available in my books, anyway.

I've lived in Swaziland, Greece, Chicago, and a lot of other places. I've worked in game design, public health, and bookstores. Now I live in San Francisco, and I make my living with content strategy and user research.